The disclosure herein relates generally to electronic mail (e-mail) services that cause an interface representing a list of e-mail messages to be output for display at a client computing device.
Some software applications are provided to users free-of-charge, and generate revenue by displaying advertisements to users of the software application. A common example is a web-based e-mail application that provides e-mail services to users by way of an interface that is displayed in a web-browser or in a dedicated application, such as an “app” that is executed on a mobile computing device, such as a tablet computing device or a smart-phone (a computationally-enabled mobile telephone). These advertisements allow advertisers to reach the users that are selected based on demographic information or contextual information, and often utilized to reach users with respect to whom the advertiser has had no prior contact. These advertisements are typically placed in the software application on the basis of a payment, either directly or indirectly, from the advertiser to the operator of the web-based e-mail application.
Promotional e-mail messages are another common form of internet advertising. Typically, an advertiser that wishes to conduct an e-mail marketing campaign generates a list of e-mail addresses for existing or prospective customers, and generates and sends a promotional e-mail message to each of those existing or prospective customers. Thus, promotional e-mail messages allow advertisers to reach persons with respect to whom the advertiser has had prior contact. As opposed to advertisements that are displayed with software applications, promotional e-mail messages are delivered to users to whom the e-mail message is addressed, without payment to an operator of a web-based e-mail application.
Promotional e-mail messages typically have a low rate of effectiveness. Because most persons receive a very large number of promotional e-mail messages, many are deleted without being read, or are simply ignored. E-mail marketing remains popular, however, because the costs associated with an e-mail marketing campaign are low relative to the benefit to be gained at even low rates of effectiveness.